GoAERO Global Emergency Response Flyer Competition Announces Prototype Winning Teams

$320,000 was awarded to 8 Prototype winners to support the creation of their life-saving aircraft in competition's first flying phase

NEW YORK, Dec. 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the GoAERO Prize, the $2+ million USD international competition to create Emergency Response Flyers, announced 8 prototype winners that will receive a total of $320,000 in GoAERO awards. With support from NASA, RTX, Honeywell, and 20+ other organizational partners, the winning teams will fly their aircraft at a Final Fly Off at NASA Ames Research Center in the San Francisco Bay Area. View the new winners video here.

The 8 prototype winners are:

• CraneAERO — Cranfield, UK
• Elevate — Delft, The Netherlands
• Harmony — Texas, US
• HORYZN — Munich, Germany
• LIFT + UT Austin / Texas Aerial Robotics — Texas, US
• Rescue Pack — North Carolina, US
• Soteria — Pennsylvania, US
• VSDDL — Alabama, US

The safe, portable, autonomy-enabled aircraft in development will be used to rescue people and respond to natural disasters, everyday medical emergencies, and humanitarian crises. The prototype winners announcement comes on the heels of a historically difficult year for global emergency response; deadly flooding struck central Texas, wildfires raged in California, Jamaica was devastated by one of the strongest hurricanes ever to make landfall, Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula saw one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded, and worldwide heatwave records were shattered. Meanwhile, funding for FEMA and other disaster relief agencies became more limited, road congestion worsened with Americans spending more time stuck in traffic than ever before, and EMS response times continued to lag in both urban areas and rural communities.

"The GoAERO aircraft are needed now more than ever," said Gwen Lighter, GoAERO Founder and CEO. "GoAERO was founded to create both the transformative flight technologies that save lives, and the collaborative network across industry, government, and first responder organizations to ensure the safe and effective future deployment of these emergency response aircraft."

GoAERO is currently composed of 201 teams from 85 countries around the globe creating their Emergency Response Flyers. Teams do not need to win a previous stage prize in order to continue into the next round of the competition, and new teams can join the competition at any time, regardless of whether or not they participated in previous stages. The final GoAERO Fly-Off event will feature three separate missions testing specific skills and capabilities relevant to public good missions when an additional $1.65 million will be awarded to winning teams.

About GoAERO

In 2024, GoAERO launched the GoAERO Prize, which is a global competition committed to inspiring the creation of Emergency Response Flyers that rescue people in danger and respond to disaster wherever it is found. With more than $2 million in prizes, the competition will create safe, portable, robust, autonomy-enabled flyers. Teams competing in the GoAERO Prize will compete over a three-year period and benefit from expert mentorship, global exposure, access to software, products and services, and monetary prizes. To register a team or learn more about the GoAERO Prize, please visit: GoAEROprize.com.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2837422/GoAEROPrototypes.jpg